16" TT Wheels / Yokohama tyre advice.

[dc2100k]

Hi,

I have been a member here for a while soaking up loads of info about the lovely A2, but find myself in a position where I have to ask the advice of the resident experts.

I have owned a 2001Y A2 1.4 petrol for the last 21 months and it is great - very reliable, economical practical and fun. It has various of minor problems that everyone seem to experience (rattles, erratic windows and so on) but these are minor/intermittent concerns and I have more important things in my life to worry about!

It has the standard 15*5.5in alloys (ET34 I believe) with Dunlop 175/60/15 tyres. The fronts were replaced at about 25000miles, but the rears are the originals and have done nearly 47000 miles.They are close to the indicators and are starting to perish (no surprises). As the fronts are getting close to the limit as well I have elected to replace all 4 at once. I would like however, to replace the wheels with 16" TT rims (5 spoke 16*7" wheels ET31) with Yokohama A539 195/45/16 tyres. These would seem to give a good balance between larger contact area and retaining some of the ride quality.

Can anyone confirm that this rim/tyre size and offset will work succesfully, from my calculations the inner clearence will be 7mm less and outer will extend 13mm more with the dimeter being about 5mm less. These seem to be quite small compared to the 215/35/17s that have been fitted, so I assume they will be ok but I thought i would check first. Will there be any problems when installing new brake pads?

This is a picture of the wheels:

http://www.theautochannel.com/autoparts/images/products/keystone/zob41274f.jpg

And here are the tyres, available for £175 for 4 (standard Dunlops are about £300)

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/195-45-16-Yok...oryZ9891QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Thanks in advance.

Kind regards,

James Corcoran (dc2100k)

 

[Skipton01]

Hello,

First things first, I wouldn't fit A539s. Nothing against Yokohama, but I had these tyres on my 17" wheels and they were pretty rubbish - poor levels of grip and not that good in the wet.

Next, I would go for 195/50 R 16 tyres as they will give you a better ride comfort and are of a better size match than 45 section tyres (601mm diameter as opposed to 582mm for 45%).

I can't vouch 100% for the wheels, but I wouldn't expect any problems with the dimensions as stated.

Cheers,

Mike

 

[Marco77]

yip agree they are pretty poor in wet conditions would look at bridgestone or dunlops

 

[Skipton01]

yip agree they are pretty poor in wet conditions would look at bridgestone or dunlops

I was thinking more along the lines of Toyo ProXes, either the T1-R or T1-S. They are brilliant, under-rated tyres and have decent rim protection for your new wheels.

Cheers,

Mike

 

[shugo]

tyres

i have just changed the 2 fronts on the A2 put contis on to give them a try.
so far good in the wet lets see how long they last.£75 each incl valve and balance is this ok for 185 50 16s